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Conference:

What’s at Stake? Community and Visual Culture

October 6, 2017 (9:30AM – 5:30PM EDT)

Conversations With Artists and Community Organizers, Including Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition Founder Ruth Sergel

“Community” is a potent, yet overused word, meaning dramatically different things to different people. Similarly, it can be hard to see the extent to which visual culture—the media, images, art, and memes around us—is the way we know our “communities,” and how that visual work might play a creative and productive role in social change.

“What’s at Stake?” focuses on the intersection of visual culture and the complex and contradictory notions of community. Join us for conversations with artists, community organizers, cultural organizations, public agencies, and the general public about how visual culture plays a role in defining community, helping community members to understand themselves and define or redefine who is included or excluded from “community.” In a lively and wide-ranging conversation, we will seek to pose probing questions about the role of visual cultural practice in the everyday life of communities.

*What does community look like to you? The symposium will include a group breakout session where you can share an image that conveys what community means to you. When you register to attend the symposium, we will provide instructions on how to select and upload an image.

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Who We Are

The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition connects individuals and organizations with the 1911 Triangle Factory Fire — one of the pivotal events in US history and a turning point in labor’s struggle to achieve fair wages, dignity at work and safe working conditions. Outrage at the deaths of 146 mostly young, female immigrants inspired the union movement and helped to institute worker protections and fire safety laws. Today, basic rights and benefits in the workplace are not a guarantee in the United States or across the world. We believe it is more vital than ever that these issues are defended.